Francis Berger
  • Blog
  • My Work

Jordan Peterson: A Black Hole and A Mirror

12/12/2018

0 Comments

 
A black hole because of the odd gravitational force Jordan Peterson exerts with his uncanny ability to draw people in past the event horizon with his words. For me it was his pronoun warrioring, his anti-communism, his respect for Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn, his seeming interest in Christianity, and that he was from Canada, the country where I had spent my formative years. For others it may have been his self-help tripe, or his Jungian archetypes, or his free speech rants, or his rabid defense of men. Others may have been drawn to him out of disagreement and outrage. Regardless of the reason, like a black hole, Peterson possesses strong gravitational effects. 

I surmise Peterson is able to pull people in because the manner in which he presents his ideas acts as a kind of mirror. An actual mirror reflects what is placed before it - albeit reversed in the direction perpendicular to the mirror surface, but 
Peterson's mirroring technique is a little different. He seems to possess a manner of communication that is both exact enough and vague enough to reflect back what the viewer wishes to see rather than what is there. He also has a way of expounding certain thoughts, and then walking them back or tempering them somewhat when he later revisits them. He is extremely conscious of his intended audience, and carefully crafts words to please whomever sits before him. Put simply, Peterson seems to have mastered an almost subconscious form of pandering (all definitions of this final word fully intended).

As mentioned above, I was drawn to Peterson when I heard him ranting on about the dangers of communism. I not only found his words refreshing, but they seemed to reflect my own abhorrence of communism. Then he spoke of Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn, and I began to regard him as a kindred spirit. When he gave lectures on the Bible, I presumed he was finding a way of reintroducing Christianity to the secular masses in the West. Yet as the months passed, the reflective surface of Peterson's mirror grew distorted. I began to pay closer attention to what he was actually promulgating and then compared these re-evaluations to an ever-increasing list of his inconsistencies and sophistries. His mirror losts its allure when I attempted to read his 12 Rules for Life, which happened to coincide with the media's initiation of him into the Intellectual Dark Web.  

Now if you are a JBP devotee who does not intend to re-evaluate Peterson, peace be with you.

But if you have been dedicating a considerable amount of time to Peterson's work, are well-disposed to what he preaches, but have never really thought about why, do yourself a favor and take a cold, hard, objective look at what might actually be happening as you read or listen to him.

Are you really hearing his words or are you only hearing the words you want to hear? 

Keep one thing in mind irrespective of the conclusions you ultimately draw - black holes are peculiar things.

No light escapes them. 
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Blog and Comments

    Blog posts tend to be spontaneous, unpolished, first draft entries ranging from the insightful and periodically profound to the poorly-argued and occasionally disparaging.
     

    Comments are moderated. Anonymous comments are never published (please use your name or a pseudonym). 

    Emails welcome:

    f er en c ber g er (at) h otm   ail (dot) co m
    Blogs/Sites I Read
    Bruce Charlton's Notions
    Meeting the Masters
    From The Narrow Desert
    Synlogos ✞ Aggregator
    New World Island  
    New World Island YouTube
    ​Steeple Tea
    Berdyaev.com
    Adam Piggott
    Fourth Gospel Blog
    The Orthosphere
    Junior Ganymede

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Picture
    A free PDF is also available in My Work. 
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.